When the shuttle returned and Jadd walked up to declare there was no time left, she still hadn’t convinced Brittany that leaving was the right path to take. Face facts, she wasn’t sure anymore either. Terrible things were happening and Brittany had seen some of them first hand. If she hadn’t been deceived, the Earth was in a bad, bad place.
“Take care, sis.” She gave her a last hug.
As the shuttle rose into the air and zoomed off, she realized there was now only her, Brask, and Dassenze in the clearing. The distant traffic, the bird noises, and the chirrups and buzzing of insects only reinforced the isolation of this place. They ambled over, an action that would seem innocent under normal circumstances. Having these two massively built males approaching her was as menacing as being a rowboat with an ocean liner about to run her down and plow her under the waves.
She could fight but that wasn’t enough.
“Stop right there.” She raised a brow, trying to act nonchalant. “Why are you still here?”
“As in, why are we here alone when I said you could trust me?” Dassenze, despite his milder manner was the one she needed to watch. Dangerous. Ominous as the low grumbling of a storm.
“Yes. Why that?” They didn’t stop in their advance until they were two yards away and she tensed.
“Because I’ve learned that Earth is now in communications quarantine, as decided by the other Ascend gods. There is a battle a half a galaxy away being waged to stop the Bak-lal from arriving here and consuming your planet.”
True? False? She had to know more. “Why?”
“Because the Bak-lal here managed to send off one signal and it told the others that you are important. That if they capture you, the war that we have fought for what seems forever will end here.”
“By you, you mean –”
“What the factory queen calls witches. You as in you, your sister, and the other earth women with these awakening powers. While allies fight this space-torn battle, while ships are ripped apart in mammoth explosions and men die with their last air frozen and fracturing their lungs, we must win here. For if we don’t win here, there will be oblivion. The Earth must be, will be, destroyed rather than let the Bak-lal possess the arcane knowledge contained within it.
“Perhaps they are wrong. I think your powers are not as significant as this factory queen believes, but we cannot afford to take that chance.”
Death poetry. The man needed an Oscar. How easily this could be a lie. She took a step away and her leg bumped the edge of the stone wall she’d been sitting on. There was a three foot drop past that.
“Sounds bad.”
“It is. There are no reinforcements at present. No one else I can call to our assistance. If we are to win against what I believe is the last factory queen here on Earth, your powers are needed at their peak. I believe that to do this, you must bond mate. It’s the way the other witches found their powers.”
“First. I’m not a witch. Neither is Brittany.”
Brask shrugged and rested his hand on his hip, pushing aside the coat, revealing his armor, all gleaming black and ivory curves. “It’s a convenient term. It’s what the factory queen calls you.”
“Second, who will destroy the Earth?”
“We will,” Dassenze said. “The Ascend and allies from the many planets. If we do not, and the Bak-lal gain the upper hand here, they will enslave your people and warp your minds and bodies until you fight for them. The population of this planet would be theirs or dead. If they can understand your powers, if they can clone witches, or multiply these strange powers, the universe will be theirs. Understand?
“That is what we are truly afraid of, and why Earth cannot be allowed to become a Bak-lal planet.”
Her mind hit a blank for several seconds. She swayed, feeling disorientated. Had there ever, ever been a seduction line as weighty as this one?
A wind stirred, rustling through the trees and making Brask’s coat flap. He reached for something beneath it.
“Wait. Wait,” she croaked. “I can’t tell how much of that is true.”
Fuck though, they wanted to force her to mate? Or the Earth died? It could just be one big, huge lie, and Brask couldn’t move faster than her, only Dassenze.
“You can’t make me do this bond mating.”
“With another dose of the nanochem, you won’t care. Let it happen.” Brask took something from his pocket.
Another dose? She’d guessed, deduced, but still. Fuck. “My powers are already here. You don’t know all this. The statistics are flawed, insufficient. You may fuck up my so-called powers instead of awakening them.”
He grunted. At least the bastard wasn’t leering. Just intent on his actions, as if she were a job that had to be completed.
“And whatever happened to your trust me?” She glared at Dassenze. It was a minor thing, considering what was at stake, but still, it seemed to hold great significance. Why was that so? She pushed that question away. Later.
“You’re correct.” Dassenze gestured at Brask without taking his gaze from her. “Desist, for the moment. From what the other witches have told me, both parties desired the other deeply, with complete abandon. Her mind does not wish to mate with you, even if her body urges her differently.”
She snorted. “You agree with me?”
“I do. For now. We can’t afford to ruin your powers, though I don’t as yet understand them.”
Emboldened, she ventured closer, wary but intrigued. Her orneriness, now that she felt safer, pushed her into what was possibly, haha, probably, a taunt.
“It’s been proven in studies that women of our species become...aroused by many odd things. After being shown pictures of monkeys mating even.” She looked pointedly at Brask. He didn’t wince. Stupid alien didn’t see the insult. “It proves nothing if you measure blood flow or the moisture of my sexual parts.”
At that, Brask raised an eyebrow.
The crinkling lines about Dassenze’s eyes made her wonder what he thought.
“I’m glad you, at least, agree with my logic.”
“Yes.” Dassenze took a step closer and loomed over her.
His scales gleamed. Her mouth dried. She really should learn to move when he came close. Then he raised a strand of her hair and tugged.
“Ouch.” She had to tilt back her neck to see him properly.
“Also, I don’t wish to lose your trust, Talia.”
“Huh.” Now that, that was something.
She blinked at him, mouth open, uncomfortably aware of how he was making her hyper-alert. She registered him as male yet she wasn’t even sure he had the necessary bits to, uhhh, mate with her. And that thought was so bad it sent her into a hot flash of a fantasy where she found out exactly what he did have.
Her mind was seriously in the gutter.
Then, inexplicably, she went up on her toes and kissed him on the mouth. A shiver of guilt, dread, and arousal ran all the way down to those same toes, pausing along the way to make her aware of how close her own female parts were to whatever he hid, under those scales.
Hot. Insane...but still hot.
She almost wanted Brask to know how turned on she was. Man. What was to become of her?
And his response? She watched him as she lowered herself to the flats of her feet. Nothing. Except he didn’t blink at all. Normally he blinked, didn’t he?
“Frack,” Brask rasped out.
Yes. It was worth it just to stir Brask. That was her reason, wasn’t it?
Her racing heart begged to differ.
Dassenze gripped both her shoulders. Startled, she looked up.
“Are all human females this deliberately disturbing?”
“Umm. No?”
Dassenze made a tsk sound. “I didn’t think so. My previous two were much more complacent. You are lucky I can’t afford to be vulnerable and indulge in mating you here on this grass. It’s soft enough to cushion you from my force.”
Oh crap. Brask had said Dassenze was interested in h
er.
His lips curled. “Do I frighten you?” His hands squeezed in, until her shoulder muscles twinged with pain. “Speak the truth.”
What did they say to do when facing an aggressive lion? Retreat slowly while maintaining eye contact? She didn’t have any choice. The Ascend had pinned her with his gaze like a butterfly collector with a new specimen, and retreating wasn’t an option.
“Answer.” He shook her. When she remained mute, he shifted his grasp to beneath her arms and lifted her onto the stone seat. Done as easily as a man might lift a kitten.
Being elevated didn’t help... Though they were eye to eye, it made her feel like a slave girl on a block being auctioned off with Dassenze a potential buyer.
Her mind was dredging up all the dirty sexual connotations it could find. No wonder, with this massive specimen of alien man-god before her. Plus, his hands had slid down to her waist and were holding her there, firmly. It was a definite panty-wetting situation.
Was she a kick-ass forensic pathologist or a slave girl? Dammit, feminism. The two were surely impossibly opposite?
She heard Brask chuckle. The bastard.
What was the question? Was she scared? Answering Dassenze honestly was somehow a must. “A little?”
“Good. Remember that before you try to kiss me. I may change my mind and do... What was that human word?” Though he paused, she was sure it was just to prolong the torture. “I may fuck you anyway.” Then he winked and released her shoulders.
Brask wore a lopsided grin. She glanced from one to the other. She had no clue which way to turn. Backing away slowly was not going to work here.
Chapter 3
The woman waded into the water beneath the draping fronds of the trees and ferns then stood for a moment staring across the lake. The gills in her neck fluttered as if anticipating the touch of water. Her goal was submerged. But it was too early. She would wait some more. She sat, shoulder deep, and watched idly as her pink hair fanned out across the surface.
*****
This time Rimmil had brought his helmet, though, thankfully, he had it tucked under his arm. Again with the striding heroically toward her and Betty. For an alien, his hair looked like it could star in a shampoo commercial.
“Hi there!” Betty acknowledged him and he nodded, took the three steps and deposited his helmet on the verandah table.
“Hi.” He nodded at Ally too.
Ally felt her eyes widen and that unfamiliar blush, heating her up. Man... Running your fingers through a stranger’s hair was probably a faux pas. She could dream though.
Wait. This was Willow’s problem with Stom. That night on the porch, she’d tuned into them, just a little, enough to make sure Willow was fine. Then Stom had sort of...jumped on her, pinned her down and done things, and Willow had liked it, so much.
Ally blushed even recalling that. She’d gasped and dropped out of Willow’s mind so fast. Then she’d felt dirty, then wanted to find her vibe, and hadn’t, because that would’ve been even dirtier.
Damn. Now Rimmil was doing that to her without them even touching. She frowned. Was this wrong? Morals weren’t her strong point. Seeing into people’s heads was so wrong all by itself and the things she’d glimpsed in some had made her wanted to scrub her mind.
“You friend is coming, Ally.” He pointed then smiled. “Willow. Down by your shed, barn, whatever you call it.”
The alien’s shuttle was hovering above the machinery shed where the bodies were buried and a woman was walking this way.
Friend made her think twice but then she realized Rimmil mightn’t have human relationships quite figured out. It was Willow.
“Ohmigod.” She put her hand over her mouth. “Ohmigod!”
As she went to take that first step, to race over to her cousin, just as Willow reached up and waved with her arm above her head, it happened...
A rush. A light. A strange echo. A feeling as if in the next moment she was going to be sucked out of her body and thrown to the winds.
In plain language, it was doom. A thing maybe you couldn’t exactly define, but this was it. Her body recognized the doom before Ally could even process a thought, and somehow, somewhen, maybe a second before it even happened...she ported again.
All of them went with her. Rimmil, Betty, Willow, yes, she stretched and caught her too. How could she leave them behind? The shuttle though – impossible.
Gone.
The blast hit ahead of her visual field, rippling in, but she wasn’t there anymore.
All of them came with her. She made sure of that. Some part of her did.
And then she lay in the sand and gasped, and calmed. So tired. Someone placed a cloth over her head. Someone cradled her. There were whispers. Don’t die. Don’t die, sweetheart. Who was that?
Darkness. Slowly, she emerged. The night sky above was so bright with stars. Blink. Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes and fled earthward. Blink. The moon was full and large like a giant pocked balloon.
“Where are we?” she croaked.
“The desert somewhere,” Rimmil said from beside her. “You’re alive.” The relief in his voice was thick.
Maybe he’d forgotten who she was?
“Thank you. I’m only a girl. You know?”
“Oh hell no, Ally. You’re more than that.” That was Betty’s voice. “You saved us all.”
She levered herself up on her elbows, a little dizzy and not thinking too well. “What do you mean?”
Sadness drifted onto Betty’s face then she glanced at Rimmil who sat on the other side of Ally. “Will you? I can’t.” The last word trailed away to a whisper.
He looked at Ally. “It’s not good. What you term a nuclear device was set off on your farm. My instruments show it. It happened just as you brought us here. As in, a half a millisecond before. I don’t understand how you did it. I don’t know where we are yet. Everything, all my new readings, are unbalanced. Central Australia somewhere. We’re in the middle of what you might call nowhere.”
“Oh.” She sat up properly and brushed hair from her face, feeling fragile and distorted.
A sense of wrongness hit her. Something was missing. The shuttle. The shed.
And Willow.
God. No.
“Where is she? Where’s Willow?” Her voice was small. She turned her head, looking, yet already sure she wasn’t here. “Please tell me she came. Please?”
Rimmil shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. She’s not here. The epicenter of the blast was the barn. My soldier brothers are gone too. That close and with the door open to lift the bodies? They’re dead.”
“I know I brought her. I know I did!” She pounded the sand with her fist. “Where is she then? Where?”
She should be sad for his loss too but she couldn’t comprehend that. Not now. Ally sobbed.
Willow was her world.
“We don’t know, dear. I’m sorry. You can’t...bring her?” Betty looked hopeful.
An agonizing question. She wished so hard it was true. “No,” she choked out. “I don’t know how I do this.”
“Maybe we could search for her?” Betty glanced at Rimmil. “Tomorrow. We’ll look, but we have to find water too. Shelter. Or we’ll die out here.”
“Die?” She sniffled into her hands, staring through her fingers at the paleness of the sand beside her jeans. “If I lost Willow, I want to die.”
She ran through what had happened, over and over, remembering the weird devastating dislocation of teleporting. She’d sensed those with her. Willow had been there. So where was she now?
Faintly, she listened to them discussing things, like some headlights in the distance and how they’d head for them soon, while it was still cool, because the sun might kill them within a day if they had no water. Maybe they’d have to leave Rimmil’s armor behind, once the power ran out.
Maybe this. Maybe that.
Willow was gone.
Ally stood and turned in a circle, the sand crunching and squeaking
under her gym shoes.
Where?
Chapter 4
The change in the reading from the probe orbiting the sun came to Dassenze.
The data was absurd. The sun the Earth circled had lost mass and longevity, in the blink of an eye. He was still checking the readings when the second, chilling message arrived.
A mini-nuke had hit the farm where Ally was hiding. The farm was now radioactive dust and mushroom cloud. Not an air blast: ground level. Messy.
At least it was small.
Centuries of surviving in this universe meant he had ways to cope. People died, no matter how sorry everyone was about it happening.
To destroy enemies one used lethal force when one must, but to also leave their lands destroyed was counterproductive for the Bak-lal. What had this factory queen been thinking? Was it accidental?
The woman called Ally had seemed important to the factory queen, yet according to scans from the orbital platform, Ally, Willow, Rimmil, and the shuttle with fifteen warriors, had been at the epicenter of the blast.
If Willow was dead, Stom would be distraught. He sighed.
The destruction of this bond mating of Earth female and Feya might kill the remaining partner.
Dassenze disengaged from the data to find he still held Talia about the waist. How long had he been distracted by the disaster? Her red hair framed her face and fanned across her shoulders in an exquisite tide.
“I’m sorry.” He let her go and moved back.
Delectable morsel that she was, this situation was precisely why he could not indulge himself and mate with her. She was clearly triggering the same reaction in Brask as the other women. His own reaction was extreme enough to make him wonder if he too was affected.
If he somehow bond mated, if that were even possible, the consequences if she died could be terrible. He was the protector of millions here. Mating with an Earth woman who might link with him the same as Stom and Willow, or Brittany and Jadd, so that he became ill if separated?
The height of negligence, as well as dangerous to her and even possibly to the universe if Ascend history was correct.
“What is it, Lord?”
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